On Friday Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam sent a letter to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress urging them to push forward with legislative efforts to update the 1996 Telecommunications Act and defang the FCC, according to The Hill.

According to this Daily Beast report, 29 of the Republican lawmakers who signed on to The Internet Freedom Act put forth by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) -- including Blackburn -- received a total of $800,000 from major telecoms and related lobbyists in 2014.

Republicans are preparing a bill that will make impudent the Federal Communications Commission as it relates to net neutrality rules. Led by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn. - pictured, left) and co-sponsored by 31 other Republican lawmakers, the legislation "will put the brakes on this FCC overreach and protect our innovators from these job-killing regulations," Blackburn said in a statement.

A California State lawmaker is making a bold move to fight against law enforcement and federal agencies who want to secure private data without obtaining a warrant from a court first. State lawmaker Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a new bill called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA).

We have received a lot of emails from interest groups who are upset that Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is once again pushing an anti-gambling law. The Restoration of America's Wire Act would reinstate an old federal ban on some gambling operations by extending it to include Internet gaming. The bill is almost identical to a bill Chaffetz pushed last year. This time around Chaffetz has six GOP co-sponsors and the backing of one Democrat, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

A top New York State Senator admits that lawmakers are not doing enough to attract the video game and tech industries to the Empire State, but will make it his top priority in 2015. New York State Senator Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) believes other states and parts of Canada are beating New York State in attracting gaming and biotech companies.

This week Republican lawmakers put forth a bill that enforces net neutrality rules but takes away power from the Federal Communications Commission when it comes to enforcing them. The new bill put forth by US Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) also forbids the FCC from reclassifying broadband companies as "common carriers" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

The bill enforces net neutrality rules such as banning on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, but leaves an exception for undefined "specialized services." Can you say "loophole?"

U.S. President Barack Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union address to at 9pm ET in Washington D.C. As is the tradition, the State of the Union will be broadcast nationwide on most major networks. Some of the big issues that will be kicked around tonight include tax increases on America's most wealthy, a plan for free college tuition, immigration reform, and more.

President Barak Obama has proposed that companies that become the victim of a security breach should have to disclose it to the public. President Obama announced two proposal on Monday that are aimed at providing more protection to consumers from the massive data breaches and to protect student from companies farming and sharing their data.

In this interesting article on 2015 tax policy plans for lawmakers, Politico highlights one tax issue that all of us should pay attention to: Internet sales tax. The bill that passed the Senate last year (The Marketplace Fairness Act) but floundered in the House because some lawmakers didn't like many of its provisions, may get a resurrection of sorts this year.

In Rhode Island when a constituent drops the name "38 Studios," it's probably not going to illicit warm and fuzzy feelings in anyone. So when one vocal detractor raised the specter of the 38 Studios failure to describe "Rhode Map RI," people got a little defensive.

The Rhode Island State Planning Council has voted unanimously in favor of the controversial Rhode Map RI and has adjourned the meeting. The plan is a bit complicated and includes federal grants, but there are a bunch of details on it here.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has introduced a bill that would ban the use of backdoors to circumvent encryption on phones and other data. The bill is called the Secure Data Act, and would prohibit government agencies from requiring software or device makers that would provide a means of circumventing encryption to secure data.

Is the State of Utah on the verge of cutting off the National Security Agency's water supply? A bill introduced in the state legislature and making its way through the legislative process could very well do just that. The bill was written and put forth by Utah State Rep. Mark Roberts (R- District 67); it prohibits cooperation between the federal spy agency and any "political subdivisions of the state."

Internet rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling on all internet users to call their elected representatives this week and tell them to support the Senate's USA FREEDOM Act.

While the bill isn't perfect, it is the first piece of legislation to tackle the NSA's unchecked power in 30 years, according to the EFF. The USA Freedom Act would - according to the EFF - do the following:

Never underestimate the power of a lame duck congress. Newsweek reports that the NSA surveillance reform bill, AKA the USA Freedom Act, will get a vote this year, thanks to a big push by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).

Senator Tom Coburn's 2014 Wastebook report is out, detailing all the tax payer-funded programs that the Republican Senator from Oklahoma thinks are wasteful or pork barrel spending. While he offers plenty of red meat for fiscally conservative types, we are really only interested in what game related items made the cut this year.

Scripps has launched a handy new app for iPhone called Podium. Podium allows users to stay informed on the top political issues, and lets them follow any politician in the U.S. to see what they are doing, saying and voting on - and it lets you share your views with your elected officials and with the world through social media.

UK Justice secretary Chris Grayling has put forth a proposal that would add serious punishment for anyone convicted of online abuse. Currently, those convicted of cyber bullying crimes - using sexually offensive, verbally abusive or threatening material online - can only be imprisoned for a maximum of six months in the UK courts. If Grayling has his way that penalty would be quadrupled to a maximum of two years.

Delaware has become the first state in the US to enact a law that ensures families’ rights to access the digital assets of loved ones during incapacitation or after death. Last week, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed House Bill (HB) 345, "Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act," which gives "heirs and executors" legal authority to take control of a digital account or device, according to Ars Technica.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said last month that, given the chance, he would take the opportunity to closely examine state laws that prevent communities from owning their own broadband. Now with two complaints filed with the FCC from North Carolina and Kentucky, the FCC has decided to ask the public what it should do with a public comment period.

A new Senate bill may force lawmakers to agree to expand the reach of sales taxes on out-of-state retailers, or see the end of a law that forbids states and cities from imposing a tax on internet access. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, this choice for lawmakers is due to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s handling of a bill called the Internet Tax Freedom Act.

A hearing related to the failed $75 million loan deal for former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video game company 38 Studios that was supposed to take place yesterday (July 17) has been rescheduled for early August. Some of the key players in the deal were asked to attend, including Curt Schilling, Michael Corso - who represented the company as its legal counsel - and Thomas Zaccagnino, one of the company’s board members.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2014 passed the Senate Intelligence Committee in a 12 to 3 vote yesterday, clearing the way for the successor to CISPA to be put to a vote in the full Senate at some point this year.

In an editorial published in The Huffington Post today, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) put pressure on the FCC to keep Internet service providers from blocking or slowing access to certain websites. In his editorial Leahy said that the Internet needs its own rules to protect liberties much like the Bill of Rights.

Martin Carrier, head of the Canadian video game lobby group Alliance Numérique, says that cuts to tax credits and incentives for the video games industry in Quebec will likely drive companies away from the region to Ontario, The United States, or even Europe.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 293-123 to cut funding for NSA spying programs that are aimed at Americans. Late last night an amendment to a defense appropriations bill put forth by Reps. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY) passed with wide support, though it still has to get the same approval in the U.S. Senate.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is pushing forward what some are calling a replacement for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act called the "Cybersecurity Information Protection Act" (CIPA). The bill offers many of the same solutions and shortcomings of the CISPA bill that the internet fought so hard to kill last year. The bill written by Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) will be up for consideration before the committee next week, according to Feinstein.

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Wymorence: For me it just boils down to the fact that, even at a giant company, when a game comes out annually it just gives it a vibe of being rushed out the door. And god knows Unity sucked some major lemur with all its bugs...03/31/2015 - 4:22pm

PHX Corp: I launched my spotify account today, and I kinda went a little overboard with adding music03/31/2015 - 3:59pm

Sora-Chan: Con't. Games like AC are a pain to someone like me who likes to play games in order. So when a game gets too many releases too quickly, it puts me off. Only exceptions are games that have no interconnected underlying stories like the FF games.03/31/2015 - 2:53pm

Sora-Chan: Wikipedia has rarely let me down on matters like this. But yeah... AC needs a break.. like two.. or three... or eight years.03/31/2015 - 2:51pm

Conster: There's 9 already?! I think I played 1, 2, and the ones inbetween 2 and 3.03/31/2015 - 2:23pm

Sora-Chan: Con't There are now Nine... of just the main entries into the series. There are 13 more in the "other games" department.03/31/2015 - 2:15pm

Sora-Chan: I tried to get into AC. Was having a decent time with the first one, at which point they had already released three titles. Then a fourth came out... then a fifth... the wall kept growing before I could finish the first.03/31/2015 - 2:14pm

Daniel Lewis: I think ubisoft should give AC a break before it's milked to death,and i'm a big fan of the games03/31/2015 - 1:15pm

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am